An earnest but uneven account of an artist whose talent blossomed like his beloved sunflowers.
Weary of city life, Vincent van Gogh retreats to the country to paint vibrant images of nature while waiting for fellow artist Paul Gauguin to join him.
“Refined” Paris regards Van Gogh’s cherished sunflower paintings as “inelegant.” After meeting Gauguin, an artist who’s equally committed to vivid hues and floral motifs, Van Gogh departs for the famed “yellow house,” where he’s inspired to paint “brighter and more colorful” art. He waits for Gauguin’s eventual arrival; the book culminates in a lush image of the two friends trekking through a golden Van Gogh–esque wheat field. The narrative contains enough information, explanation, and artistic examples to serve as a satisfying introduction to the painter for younger readers, but, as Marwan makes clear in an affectionate author’s note, the heart of the book is Van Gogh’s waiting and preparing for Gauguin’s arrival. Readers may not be as invested. The relationship between the artists feels underdeveloped, which weakens the anticipation, and the many pages devoted to waiting drag. Within the short, sincere narrative, poignant paragraphs describe colorful canvases. Yet some generic lines of text feel like filler. Marwan’s illustrations, rendered in watercolor, ink, pen, and pencil, are also unbalanced. An image of the two artists ensconced in a color wheel is brilliantly designed, as are bold, sumptuous sunflower homages. Other spreads feel curiously washed out and insubstantial.
An earnest but uneven account of an artist whose talent blossomed like his beloved sunflowers. (Informational picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781250859631
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Memorable art earns this biography a respectable place on the shelf.
George Washington Carver tended a secret garden of flowers before becoming known for his skill in agriculture.
The book opens in 1921 as Carver addresses the U.S. Congress, astounding them with dozens of uses for the peanut. The narration then takes readers back to Carver’s childhood to discover how he reached that career highlight. As a child, he loved flowers, but he was warned not to waste time on plants that couldn’t be eaten or sold, so he kept his colorful garden hidden in the woods. Shut out of schools because he was black, he studied nature independently and learned through experimentation. Eventually, he started caring for neighbors’ sick plants, becoming known as “the Plant Doctor.” At 12, he left the farm on which he was raised and attained a formal education, after which he taught students at the Tuskegee Institute and farmers with a mobile classroom mounted on a wagon. This journey through Carver’s childhood and accomplishments ends with Carver’s simple but memorable words, “Regard Nature. Revere Nature. Respect Nature.” The substantial text holds readers on each spread long enough to appreciate not only the subject matter of the painted illustrations, but Morrison’s artistic techniques—strong strokes and careful dots, artful combinations of textures and shapes—which create lush forest scenes and portraitlike human faces and forms. The childhood story feels more cohesive than the final pages, which list his adult accomplishments but lack the narrative thread.
Memorable art earns this biography a respectable place on the shelf. (timeline, bibliography, further reading) (Picture book/biography. 4-9)Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-243015-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A supplemental rather than introductory book on the great artist.
Frida Kahlo’s strong affection for and identification with animals form the lens through which readers view her life and work in this picture-book biography.
Each two-page spread introduces one or more of her pets, comparing her characteristics to theirs and adding biographical details. Confusingly for young readers, the beginning pages reference pets she owned as an adult, yet the illustrations and events referred to come from earlier in her life. Bonito the parrot perches in a tree overlooking young Frida and her family in her childhood home and pops up again later, just before the first mention of Diego Rivera. Granizo, the fawn, another pet from her adult years, is pictured beside a young Frida and her father along with a description of “her life as a little girl.” The author’s note adds important details about Kahlo’s life and her significance as an artist, as well as recommending specific paintings that feature her beloved animals. Expressive acrylic paintings expertly evoke Kahlo’s style and color palette. While young animal lovers will identify with her attachment to her pets and may enjoy learning about the Aztec origins of her Xolo dogs and the meaning of turkeys in ancient Mexico, the book may be of most interest to those who already have an interest in Kahlo’s life.
A supplemental rather than introductory book on the great artist. (Picture book/biography. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4269-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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